Cautionary Tales For Children
Wonderful witty poems great for reading to your children. The stories and rhymes will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Research has shown how important YOU are to your children and how as a dad the things you do, and keep on doing, really count, whether you live with them, or you are a single dad and are only able see them once a month, once a week or more, what you do really matters. This site is dedicated to all dads but will be of special relevance to the single dad. Remember, you are half the reason your children exist and they need you whether you live with them or not. As their dad, you have what it takes to make their lives successful and fulfilling no matter how often you see them. This site is about all the positive things that we as parents have to offer our children.

Make a Pulse Rifle

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Get those kids up out of their chairs with a model made from their favourite console game

The games console seems to be such a bit part of kidsí lives these days, so what better thing to make, than something from one of their favourite games. . . .
My kids were working their way through Ratchet and Clank on the PlayStation II. Even I got suckered in to watching them sometimes. They loved the game and looked forward to playing it each time they came to my flat. The main character, Ratchet has a robot friend called Clank. They are being chased by huge robots for the theft of Clank, a crime Ratchet didnít commit (according to my kids).

Between them they have a massive choice of the most inventive and incredible looking ray guns and gun-like equipment. Hand held arms that that shoot whirlwinds, or suck up water, or turn things into chickens (the chickenator), and having looked at what junk we had in the ĎMaking Boxí, we decided to make this ray gun, called a Pulse Rifle which shoots out a laser ray with hoop rings of light surrounding it.. . .
Itís not really that hard to make, but the skill is making it so that it looks like a Pulse Rifle, and if you get the grip size right it feels great in the hand. However, it doesnít matter if itís not identical to the one in the game, our one certainly isnít, it just has to have enough of the visual cues of the virtual one to make the fantasy work for your kids. Whatever you do, make sure it feels sturdy. Use glue gun glue and make sure everything is stuck together really well.

Now how cool is that? Donít you just want one? And it was all made from junk packaging that we saved up in a couple of weeks.. . .
The homemade one is about 100 times better than any one you might have bought (if you could buy it, which I donít think you can), because working out how to make it, making it and finishing it off are all so engaging. Once we finished making it, for a while the kids abandoned the virtual game in favour of acting out the Ratchet and Clank story around the flat and garden, turning each other in to nuts and bolt and, when it mattered- chickens.

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We can't wait to see the pictures of what youíve made. Kids love it when the things you made together are published, so go on upload a picture of what you made. It's easy, just go to your dadcando My Page and upload your pictures into this project and we'll put one of them right here in the project picture gallery.

To give you the higest quality and the shortest download time, most of our downloads are supplied in Adobe PDF format for your convenience. Adobe Reader is standard on most computers, but if you do not have it, you can get the most up to date version free from Adobe, here.

Your downloaded projects

Posted by spyro - I made this with my dad. It's the RYNO from Ratchet and Clank. It's made from cardboard, but we made it look like metal by rubbing a bit of silver on each of the corners. I loved this project

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Advanced models

Once you have made a few models and toys from junk with your kids, theyíll begin to think of things that they would like to make from scratch. My kids usually start with the phrase, ĎDad - can we make something?í Unless you follow a ready made project plan, working out what you are going to make is sometimes the hardest part of the project, and if you donít know what you are making at the start, you invariably end up with an unrewarding mess at the end.

At the planning stage, you are governed by four things: The available materials, your tools, your and your kid's ability and the time you have.
The good news is that there are making projects to fit any mix of abilities and facilities. Your materials will be a mixture of junk lying around the house, and the odd bit of some special stuff that you can buy very cheaply. The equipment that you need can almost be limited to a glue gun, some spray paint and a permanent maker. That just leaves your skill level, and to be frank, you donít need much to make a nice model or toy with your kids that they will love.

When you have decided what you want to make, the first thing to do is get yourself some reference. Search the web and have a look at pictures of the real version of what your kids want to make. Print some off to guide you.

This ray Gun was based on a weapon in one of my childrenís favourite games console games, Ratchet and Clank.

Once you have your reference pictures, have a look at what materials you have. Old plastic bottles, boxes, and bits of card are the obvious ones, but get creative. Think of all the things you have in the attic, shed or garden. An old plastic football, a bit of garden hose, a toothbrush, or a piece of aluminium grille are all great starting points for a neat project.

The great thing about making something from a console game is that it gets the kids off the game and into some really imaginative play, running round the house or garden, while still feeding into the world of their game.

If you can, use the computer design and print out label and graphics that will enhance your model. Dadcando's TARDIS project is really finished off by printouts of the Police Phone Call Box sign, and the smaller door sign, and on this project, we have already drawn up and laid them out to make the job really easy.

But you might need something more than just junk, if you are going to make really realistic models. Foam Board is a superb model making material, which will enable you to make just about anything which has a box like shape. The TARDIS and K9 were both made almost entirely from Foam Board. For things that have curves, where no plastic packaging is suitable, youíll have to resort to Polymorph, papier mache, or Plaster of Paris bandage.
To use Plaster of Paris bandage, simply cut it into 300mm (1 foot) long sections off the roll and pull through a saucer of water. Itís very messy, but great fun and dries overnight to a hard finish. Itís great for scenery, very satisfying to use and easy to paint with water based paints when it is dry.

To add the finishing touches to an advanced model, nothing works better than a bit of light. LEDs (light emitting diodes) are brilliant for this. They are low power, low current drain (meaning that they last a long time on the same battery), they can be very bright and are small, so they can be put almost anywhere in a model or homemade toy. You can find out more about LEDs in the Useful Stuff You Need section on dadcando.com.

Featured Project

MicroCards
MicroCards are
miniature playing cards that can be printed out on one sheet of paper.
Just cut them out and play on the go!